A week after Steve Clarke got sacked, and with no new manager in sight, the Royals travelled to Lancashire to face a Preston side who surprisingly have one of the best defensive records in the league.
Little to be shocked about then when a Reading team, under the interim management of Martin Kuhl, fell to a 1-0 defeat on a miserable day with a miserable performance with few players coming out with any praise. The goalkeeping situation continues to split the fans and similarly with Vydra, who seems to try hard in spells however those spells are becoming more and more infrequent.
Being realistic then this was about as much as Reading could have hope for and the search for a new manager has never been more important, Wednesday we travel to a dominant Hull side who must fancy on continuing their current good form.
Social verdict
Obviously the Preston North End fans were pretty ecstatic with their team's performance and result, here’s a couple of tweets from the Lilywhites perspective.
Good Results are formed in strong defenses
Back to back wins for the Whites and the 4th best defence in the division. Not bad going #PNEFC
— Hicky (@EmmaHickson) December 12, 2015
North End are top of the Championship for clean sheets now #pnefc
— Ruari (@RuariPaton) December 12, 2015
Not a bad shot really!
Shout out to garner managing to hit the only fan sat in row 3 #pnefc https://t.co/RUgxWsKCsB https://t.co/2BdSvTwj4H
— TFS Preston NE (@TFS_PNE) December 13, 2015
The Police commentating on our away strip now!
Reading sporting a strange away strip which I'm reliably informed is "African Violet" #DuluxColourChart
— PNE Police (@PNEPolice) December 12, 2015
You say, we say….
Reading must be one of the worst teams we've played this season.. time wasting in first half.. garner had there defenders rattled #pnefc
— ✌Anthony✌⚽ N.E.S ⚽ (@mcainey88) December 12, 2015
C’mon the Simod Cup counts…..
Seen a couple of #RFC fans Whinging about losing to insignificant #PNEFC. So I thought I'd check what they'd ever won. Didn't take long #0
— Andrew monks (@Andrewmonks3) December 12, 2015
Positivity…
Quality today. Closer to the play offs than the relegation zone, I'll take that #pnefc
— Adam (@pneadam) December 12, 2015
Probably a fair comment
Keane and Reach both decent today, Reading were poor though #pnefc #readingfc
— Liam (@_LiamBromley) December 12, 2015
Media
Reading's lack of performance and results are shown with the media coverage of the club. Since I have been doing this article this is probably the worst week that I have seen for a long time with media coverage being next to nothing.
However, looking at what is out there, then we have SkySports who have their usual full round of coverage and looking at the highlights package, it’s not pleasant viewing if you’re a member of the Reading defense or Paul McShane in particular.
The BBC verdict of the game, reckon that Preston should have and could have won by more, and have an interview with Martin Kuhl basically says what every fan is thinking that we can’t get the manager situation sorted fast enough.
A quick look at some of the other outlets and Bond gets a good write up at ClubCall saying he made a few good saves.
The Lancashire Evening Post call Reading managerless, lacklustre and poor, which is probably a fair report on the current form and side. The Basingstoke Gazette have a lite report on the game, and the 72 carry a small report on the twitter reaction after the game. GetReading are a little more direct with some comments, and Charles Watts' video diary is always worth looking checking out.
Unfortunately or happily dependent on your viewpoint that’s all the reports that I can find and as usual check out The Tilehurst End for the latest on both the managers’ search and all things Reading based.
I will be back after the Hull game, praying for a decent performance and some good coverage!
Urzz